[1][4] Her family was descended from Harriet (née Mitchell), a missionary from Ohio and Allen Wright, who served as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Republic from 1866 to 1870.

[1] While Charles completed his military service in World War II, O'Leary lived with her parents, where their first son was born in 1943.

[9] Upon completion of the war, Charles went to work for Halliburton Oil Company,[10] and the family moved to Whittier, California, where two more sons were born in 1947 and 1948.

[18] While living in Springfield, O'Leary became the governor of the local chapter of the Mayflower Society, serving until 1963,[19] when the family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri.

[32][30] Her campaign marked the first time a woman had vied for the office and prompted Marycrest College in Davenport, Iowa to grant her an honorary doctorate.

[29][33] In the 1980s, she served as the regent of the Kilihoto chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of McAlester[34] and as the Oklahoma state governor of the Mayflower Society.

[36] O'Leary died on December 22, 1999, in McAlester,[37] and was buried in Boggy Depot Cemetery, in Atoka County, Oklahoma.